European Markets Lower Amid Earnings

(RTTNews) - The European markets are trading lower on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious amid a mixed bag of earnings news. Sentiment was also impacted by lingering fears over the Fed tapering.

China's Communist Party agreed to offer bigger role for markets in the world's second largest economy as part of the sweeping reforms outlined by party leadership during the Third Plenum meeting that concluded in Beijing on Tuesday.

China needs to build an open and unified market with orderly competition before letting the market decide the allocation of resources, the CPC said in a statement.

British unemployment claims declined more than expected by economists in October, while the jobless rate edged lower in the three-months to September, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.35 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.45 percent.

The DAX index is losing 0.2 percent while Switzerland's SMI is lower by 0.1 percent. The French CAC 40 and the UK's FTSE 100 are declining 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

In Frankfurt, utility E.ON reported lower profit for the first nine months of the year, amid a 5 percent drop in revenues. Further, the firm cut the upper end of its full year forecast for EBITDA and underlying net income. The stock is down 0.5 percent.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is declining 5 percent after KKR & Co. and Permira Advisers LLP sold 35 million shares in the company.

Construction giant Hochtief reported a sharp decline in third-quarter consolidated net profit, while operational earnings grew from last year. The company said it looks ahead with confidence to the remainder of the year, and reaffirmed its guidance for 2013. The stock is up 2.4 percent.

In Paris, GDF Suez is falling 1.5 percent. The utility said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the nine-month period declined. Peer Veolia Environnement is down 1.3 percent.

Lenders Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale are in negative territory.

In London, Standard Chartered is losing 3.5 percent and Barclays is down 2.4 percent.

British Sky Broadcasting is losing 3.1 percent. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are declining 2.3 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

ICAP is gaining 5.8 percent. The inter-dealer broker expects annual profit before tax to be marginally ahead of the prior year.

Sainsbury is gaining 2.3 percent after first-half profit rose.

Danish brewer Carlsberg reported higher profit for the third quarter, helped by tight cost control, even as revenues declined amid weak volume development in Eastern Europe. Further, the firm said its earnings expectations for 2013 are unchanged, even as it cut its Russian beer market outlook. The stock is up 2.4 percent in Copenhagen.

The Asian stocks fell broadly after China's third plenum meeting failed to outline steps to curb state dominance of the economy, saying markets would play a "decisive" role in allocating resources.

In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow and the S&P 500 slipped around 0.2 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed just above the unchanged line.

In the commodity space, crude for December delivery is adding $0.18 to $93.22 per barrel and December gold is gaining $3.7 to $1274.9 a troy ounce.